Reuben Fine's Luck

    It seems if it wasn't for bad luck Reuben Fine (1914-1983) wouldn't have had any luck at all. Fine was one of the strongest players in the world from the mid-1930s into the early 1950s, but he was never able to win the US Championship. Once when asked why that was so, Samuel Reshevsky said, “It was because I was playing.” 

 In the first modern US Championship in 1936, the 21-year old Fine was, along with Reshevsky and Kashdan, the elite of US chess. That tournament didn't go well for Fine. His 7 wins and 7 draws showed his play was too timid and his loss to Albert Simonson, who was playing incredibly well, meant that Fine could do no better than tie George Treysman for third behind Reshevsky and Simonson. 

    Simonson, the youngest player in the tournament, was an unknown and was recognized as one of the better bridge and backgammon players. His only previous claim to fame had been his mediocre performance on one of the US Olympiad teams, but he made a remarkable late surge to finish a half point behind Reshevsky. 

    Treysman, at 55 was an old man, who had never played in a tournament before but was a professional coffeehouse player, earning dimes at speed and offhand games at some of the seedy clubs around New York. 

    In the 1938 Championship Fine finished second behind Reshevsky by a half point. He might have won, but losses to Anthony Santasiere (who tied Treysman for places 10-11) and Milton Hanauer (tied for places 12-14 with S. Cohen and Fred Reinfeld) proved disastrous. 

    Then again in 1940, Fine finished a half point behind Reshevsky. This time it was a loss to the super-solid Abraham Kupchik who finished tied with Arnold Denker for sixth place. Fine sat out the 1942 event but in the 1944 Championship Reshevsky wasn't playing, so it looked like this was Fine's chance. 

    This time he lost one game. When he met Denker in the seventh round it was Denker who prevailed. This was the tournament of Denker's life as he scored an amazing +14 -0 =3 and finished ahead of Fine who's score was almost as good, +13 -1 =3. 

 Fine did much better in the US Open though. At 17, he won his first of seven US Open Championships (then known as the Western Open) at Minneapolis in 1932 where he finished a half point ahead of Reshevsky. 

 Against high class opposition Fine often played brilliantly, but in domestic tournaments he often made tactical errors against lesser opposition. Who knows why? 

    The following game is from the US Open held in Dallas, Texas in 1940. In those days Dallas was out of the way, there was a war going on which made travel difficult, plus the New York State Chess Association championship was being held. As a result, the turnout was a dismal 27 entrants.  

     The field was split into three preliminary sections, with pre-tournament favorites Fine, Herman Steiner, and Weaver Adams seeded into different groups with the top three from each preliminary qualifying for the finals. 

    As expected Adams was undefeated in his section, finishing ahead of Erich Marchand. Steiner was also undefeated in his section, finishing ahead of Harold Burge. Fine was also undefeated, but J.C. Thompson tied him for first. 

    Fine's opponent in this game was the unheralded Albert Roddy from Oklahoma. Arnold Denker called Roddy a “non-master”, but I don't think that is necessarily the case.

 

    In the 1947 Southwest Open held in Fort Worth, Texas, Roddy tied for first with J.C. Thompson, Robert G. Wade and Blake W. Stevens. At the time Wade was touring the United States and Canada by Greyhound bus and playing in a number of tournaments. Blake Stevens (1927 – 1993) was from San Antonio, Texas and won the city championship several times. On the 1955 USCF rating list he was rated 2140. J.C. Thompson was a Master long before there was an official rating list. 

     I attempted to discover more information on Albert Roddy, but was unable to do so. There was an Albert Roddy (1900-1966) who is listed as registering for the draft in the September 26, 1918 issue of the Ada (Oklahoma) Weekly News. There was also an Army Second Lieutenant Albert H. Roddy during World War II who was captured by the Nazis while serving in Germany and was sent to Stalag Luft 3 near Sagan, Germany. He was freed in 1945. 

    Whomever this Albert Roddy was, this game was his 15 minutes of fame. The game was played in the preliminary section of the 1940 US Open held in Dallas, Texas. Fine went on to score 8-0 in the finals while Roddy tied for places 3-5 with a 4-3 score in the consolation tournament. 

 

[Event "US Open. Prelim 2, Dallas"] [Site "Dallas, TX USA"] [Date "1940.08.20"] [Round "3"] [White "Albert Roddy"] [Black "Reuben Fine"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D38"] [Annotator "Stocjfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "1940.??.??"] {D38: Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 {This sharp defense looks like a mixture of the QGD and the Nimzo-Indian and was introduced into practice by Soviet GM Viacheslav Ragozin.} 5. Qb3 {White has many choices here: 5.Qa4, 5.Qc2, 5.e3, 5. a3, 5.Bg5 and 5. cxd5.} c5 {Black blocks the c-Pawn after 5...Nc6, but it’s also a good move that results in lots of piece play.} 6. Bg5 Nc6 7. dxc5 O-O 8. e3 h6 9. Bh4 { This move does not seem to be inferior to 9.Bxf6 which has also been played.} g5 10. Bg3 Ne4 11. Be2 Qf6 {11... Nxg3 cannot be recommended because black’s K has been weakened by the advance of the Ps, plus the open h-file would be too dangerous for him.} (11... Nxg3 12. hxg3 Qf6 13. cxd5 exd5 {and after 14. O-O white has the advantage, but not} 14. Qxd5 Bxc3+ {and black wins.}) 12. Rc1 h5 {Risky. Fine is taking liberties against his unknown opponent. 11... Nxg3 cannot be recommended because black’s K has been weakened by the advance of the Ps, plus the open h-file would be too dangerous for him.n Simply 12... Nxc4 with equal chances is correct.} 13. h4 {This is not a good choice as it weakens his K's position. White has a good position after 13.cxd5} g4 {[%mdl 2048] 13... Nxg3 looks good, but appearances are deceptive.} (13... Nxg3 14. hxg5 Qg6 15. fxg3 Rd8 16. Rd1 Bxc5 17. Bd3 Qg7 18. Rxh5 {and white has a very strong attack.}) 14. Nd4 {White is faced with a difficult decision. Play this or 14.cxd5.} (14. cxd5 Nxc5 15. Qd1 gxf3 16. gxf3 Rd8 {Black is better.}) 14... Nxd4 {14... Nxg3 is a little better, but because the move wasn’t good last move, he probably rejected it without much thought.} (14... Nxg3 15. fxg3 Bxc5 {This was previously unavaliable.} 16. cxd5 Nxd4 17. exd4 Bxd4 {with n excellent position.}) 15. Qxb4 Nxg3 16. fxg3 {At this point Fine's advantage is only marginal} Nf5 17. cxd5 Nxg3 18. Rg1 exd5 19. Nxd5 Qxh4 20. Qf4 Be6 21. Ne7+ {[%mdl 8192] After this black is winning. It was better to leaving the N where it is and play 19.Bc4 or even 19,Rd1.} Kh7 22. Bd3+ f5 23. Kd2 Rae8 { One square too far. Black is still better after this, but on d8 he would be winning.} (23... Rad8 24. Rgd1 Ne4+ 25. Ke2 Qxe7 26. Bxe4 fxe4 27. Qxe4+ Kg7 { Black has won a piece.}) 24. Rh1 {Roddy has a brilliant concept in mind.} Nxh1 {Apparently Fine is unaware of what is about to happen. He would have been slightly better after 24...Qxe7} 25. Rxh1 {[%mdl 512]} Qxh1 26. Qg5 {This forces black to take the draw. The threat is Qg6 and Qh6 mate} Qxg2+ 27. Kc3 Rxe7 {[%mdl 512]} 28. Qxe7+ Rf7 29. Qxe6 Kg7 30. Bc4 Rf6 {Draw agreed.} (30... Rf6 31. Qg8+ Kh6 32. Qh8+ Kg5 33. Qg7+ Rg6 34. Qe7+ Kh6 35. Qf8+ {etc.}) 1/2-1/2